Fire hose cabinet

ABSTRACT

A fire hose cabinet particularly for homes is recessed into a wall and has provisions for connection with a standpipe leading directly to the home owner&#39;&#39;s water main. The device features a forward hinged cover which swings downwardly to a vertical dependent position below the open cabinet to allow ready access to the hose and petcock within the cabinet. The front of the cover is masked by an artistically framed picture such as a simulated oil painting, thereby effectively concealing the cabinet.

" ,United States Patent [191 Allmand Nov. 11, 1975 1 FIRE HOSE CABINET [76] Inventor: Thomas R. Allmand, 1735 Holmes Road, Ypsilanti, Mich. 48197 [22] Filed: May 23, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 472,726

[52] US. Cl. 312/204; 248/90; 312/242 [51] Int. Cl. A47B 67/02; B05B 15/06 [58] Field of Search 312/204, 242, 328; 169/5,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 340,127 4/1886 Kendall 169/5 432,906 7/1890 Scholding 248/90 X 2.317.437 4/1943 Botta 312/204 X 2,686,644 8/1954 Pratt r 3l2/242'UX 2.706.006 4/1955 Valente 169/5 X l/1959 Pokryfke .312/242 7/1974 Osroff .312/242 Primary E.\'aminerDonald A. Griffin Attorney, Agem, or FirmD. Paul Weaver 5 7 ABSTRACT A fire hose cabinet particularly for homes is recessed into a wall and has provisions for connection with a standpipe leading directly to the home owners water main. The device features a forward hinged cover which swings downwardly to a vertical dependent position below the open cabinet to allow ready access to the hose and petcock within the cabinet. The front of the cover is masked by an artistically framed picture such as a simulated-oil painting, thereby effectively concealing the cabinet.

2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures US. Patent Nov. 11, 1975 Sheet 1 of 2 US. Patent N0v.11, 1975 Sheet20f2 3,918,782

FIRE HOSE CABINET The objective of this invention is to provide a fire fighting unit for the home owner which may be installed within a wall opening and totally concealed by an artistic simulated painting or picture carried by the forward hinged cover of the cabinet body portion of the unit. The cabinet body portion is recessed into the wall so that the simulated painting embodied in the cover lies against the wall in a realistic manner. 7 Additionally, the unit constitutes a cabinet for an adequate length of fire hose and the necessary connections for said hose with a vertical pipe running through the wall and connected with the house water main. A convenient petcock means is also provided. A provision is made for extending the pipe through the .top of the cabinet to an upper floor unit of the identical type, if desired. The front coverbearing the framed picture swings downwardly to a substantially vertical position below the cabinet and against the wall during the use of the fire hose. The cover is equipped with a handle and an easily releasable spring catch.

Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING FIGURES FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a household fire fighting unit or cabinet embodying the invention and showing the forward artistic cover thereof in the closed position.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the unit with the cover open.

FIG. 3 is a vertical section taken substantially on line 33 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the unit with the cover and other parts omitted.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the unit with parts broken away and parts in section.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to the drawings in detail wherein like numerals designate like parts, a household fire fighting unit embodying the invention comprises a preferably sheet metal rectangular cabinet body portion having an open forward side and an outwardly directed marginal flange 11 at such side. The cabinet body portion 10 is adapted to be mounted within a suitable wall opening of the home as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, between wall studs 12. The forward flange 11 abuts the forward facing 13 of the wall and the entire cabinet body portion therefore lies between the forward and rear wall facings 13 and 14 in a secure manner.

The unit has a forward door or cover 15 which is hinged to the lower forward corner of the cabinet body portion by forwardly and downwardly offset hinge brackets 16 having pivot elements 17 spaced somewhat below and forwardly of the cabinet body portion. This allows the cover 15 to swing downwardly to a substantially vertical dependent position against the front face of the wall and bodily beneath the cabinet so as to be well out of the way during the use of the fire fighting means.

The door or cover 15 as viewed while in the closed position is in the form of an artistically framed picture, such as an oil painting. Beautiful decorator quality simulated oil paintings and artistic picture frames at low cost are readily available for this purpose. The picture thus carried by the front of the hinged cover lies flush against the wall surface 13 and it will be noted from the drawings that the frame portion 18 of the cover extends considerably beyond the margin of the cabinet body portion and overlaps the wall surrounding the same to completely conceal the cabinet and give the appearance to an observer that there is nothing on the wall but an attractive picture. This is one of the principal features of the invention making it suitable for installation in fine homes.

The top of the hinged cover 15 on its outer side is equipped with an artistically shaped pull handle 19. On its' inner side, at its top, the cover is equipped with a projecting catch element 20 adapted to enter a conventional spring keeper unit 21 fixedly mounted on'the top wall of the cabinet body portion. This assures easy opening of the cover '15 in an emergency and sufficient security to hold the cover in the closed position.

Within the cabinet body portion and on the back wall thereof a pair'of rails 22 and 23 are fixedly mounted so as to provide a vertical channel and storage way for a flexible fire hose 24 whose reversely folded sections as shown in FIG. 2 are held between the two rails 22 and 23 in neatly stacked relationship. The rails 22 and 23, FIG. 4, terminate somewhat short of the top and bottom walls 25 and 26 of the cabinet body portion so as not to interfere with the easy release of the hose when the nozzle thereof is grasped and pulled forwardly by a user.

Within the cabinet body portion between the vertical rail 22 and the adjacent side wall 27, a relatively large chamber forming element 28 is fixedly secured at 29 to the vertical side wall 27 above the vertical center of the cabinet. A fitting 30 or coupling on the bottom of this chamber is connected to the top of a vertical pipe 31 which rises through the wall of the house and is suitably connected with the house water main so that full main pressure is supplied to the chamber 28. The size of the chamber 28 is large in comparison to the pipe 31, such as a 1 inch pipe.

Another fitting 32 on the bottom of the chamber 28 spaced from the fitting 30 is coupled to a simple on-off petcock 33 having a handle 34 which extends across the line as shown when the petcock is closed and is turned to a vertical position along the line to open the petcock to admit water to the hose. This makes the unit easy to operate in a panic situation as the petcock handle can be turned in either direction to admit water to the hose. From the petcock unit, another coupling 35 is utilized to couple the hose thereto within the cabinet, as clearly shown in the drawings.

For a one story installation of the fire fighting unit, the top of chamber 28 is plugged by a threaded plug 36. To install another unit of the invention in the home on the floor above, an extension pipe 37 may replace the plug 36 and lead from the chamber 28 through an opening 38 in the cabinet top wall 25 to the fire fighting unit on the floor above, where the pipe 37 will assume the position of the pipe 31 in the drawings. A removable plate 39 may be provided to cover the opening 38 when the plug 36 is used without the extension pipe 37.

Concerning the operation of the chamber 28, when water is flowing during the use of the hose, the large chamber will tend to deliver the water at a relatively constant pressure, as is well known.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in 3 the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the in vention or scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. A household fire fighting unit comprising a rectangular cabinet body adapted to be mounted within a wall opening with its forward open side substantially flush with the exterior of a wall, a length of tire hose normally housed in folded relation in the cabinet body, a pair of upstanding spaced parallel rails within the cabinet body defining a guidance and support means for the hose whereby the hose may be pulled from the cabinet body for use without restriction and stored in the cabinet body in a stabilized condition, said rails extending substantially from top to bottom of the cabinet body with one rail of the pair adjacent one side wall of the cabinet body and the other rail spaced inwardly of the opposite side wall of the cabinet body, a water chamber element within the portion of the cabinet body between the last-named rail and said opposite side wall, a standpipe section received through the bottom of the cabinet body and coupled with and communicating with said chamber element, a parallel depending outlet pipe connected with and communicating with the chamber element within said portion of the cabinet body in closely spaced relation to said standpipe section and being to the interior thereof, and means simulating a wall mounted framed artistic picture on the side of the hinged cover which is forwardmost when the cover is in the upward closed position.

2. The structure of claim 1, and said chamber element spanning substantially the full width of said'portion of the cabinet body and having a threaded plug in its top wall, whereby the chamber element may be coupled with a rising extension of said standpipe. 

1. A nhousehold fire fighting unit comprising a rectangular cabinet body adapted to be mounted within a wall opening with its forward open side substantially flush with the exterior of a wall, a length of fire hose normally housed in folded relation in the cabinet body, a pair of upstanding spaced parallel rails within the cabinet body defining a guidance and support means for the hose whereby the hose may be pulled from the cabinet body for use without restriction and stored in the cabinet body in a stabilized condition, said rails extending substantially from top to bottom of the cabinet body with one rail of the pair adjacent one side wall of the cabinet body and the other rail spaced inwardly of the opposite side wall of the cabinet body, a water chamber element within the portion of the cabinet body between the last-named rail and said opposite side wall, a standpipe section received through the bottom of the cabinet body and coupled with and communicating with said chamber element, a parallel depending outlet pipe connected with and communicating with the chamber element within said portion of the cabinet body in closely spaced relation to said standpipe section and being coupled with one end of said fire hose, a petcock connected in said parallel depending outlet pipe and having an operating handle projecting across the standpipe section and said outlet pipe when the petcock is closed, a cover for said cabinet body hinged to the lower end thereof and adapted when open to swing downwardly entirely below the cabinet body to provide full access to the interior thereof, and means simulating a wall mounted framed artistic picture on the side of the hinged cover which is forwardmost when the cover is in the upward closed position.
 2. The structure of claim 1, and said chamber element spanning substantially the full width of said portion of the cabinet body and having a threaded plug in its top wall, whereby the chamber element may be coupled with a rising extension of said standpipe. 